News

NYU To Offer Course On Bob Marley

December 11, 2012 9:34 PM

A photograph at the exhibiton ‘Tek A Picture A Dis’ at the Sony Ericsson Proud Camden on February 3, 2005 in London. The show features unseen photographs of iconic reggae legend Bob Marley to mark what would have been his 60th birthday. (Credit: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Instructor Vivien Goldman will teach the class, “Topics in Recorded Music: Bob Marley & Post-Colonial Music.” The course will cover Marley’s own music, as well as Jamaican history and Rastafarianism, Goldman told DNAInfo.

The course description noted that Marley is often called a “prophet,” and that the biracial musician and activist “smashed restrictions of race and class imposed on his generation by the colonial system.”

The course will explore the answer to the question: “How did Marley, an effectively fatherless child from a tiny village, achieve his rise to global authority and influence, musically, socio-politically, spiritually, personally and in terms of the industry?”

The course will explore the history of Jamaica and its connection with Britain, Marley’s evolution as a writer and musician and his creative partnership, his struggle to control the business of his music, and his commitment to pan-Africanism and Rastafarianism as a way of life. The course will offer special guests and screenings, the description said.

Goldman knew Marley personally from 1975 until his death from cancer at the age of 36 in 1981, and did public relations for Marley before writing two books about him, DNAInfo reported.

The two-credit, twice-weekly class costs $2,822, and is open to anyone with a high school diploma – including non-NYU students, who may enroll online through Jan. 6, DNAInfo reported.

The class will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Jan. 7 through Jan. 26, DNAInfo reported.